New to Java

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Hello All,
I am new to programming in Java (i.e. know the control flow statements, classes and objects, inheritance, etc. new to GUIs) and was wondering about something....
Using Java, can I design applications that can control/interact with other applications that expose a COM model, such as MSExcel, Autodesk AutoCAD, etc.?

I would be very interested in creating an application using Java, that parses through a spreadsheet in Excel, and populates some parts of an engineering drawing in AutoCAD for me.

Before I start struggling with the details, I wanted an expert opinion on if this is even possible. Also, if it is, I would be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction...
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This isn't the COM you were asking about but for Microsoft apps there is an Apache project and using it will give you far less grief than using COM.

See the Apache POI Project
Apache POI - the Java API for Microsoft Documents
http://poi.apache.org/

rp0438,
Thank you for mentioning the Apache POI project. This is something I had never heard of, and seems pretty cool. However, I am still interested in the COM approach, only because MS Excel forms a very small part of the puzzle for me. There are two other programs I wish to integrate with, which are not Microsoft Office suite programs. Both these programs expose COM models, since I have created little scripts within them using VBA...

Does anyone else know anything about interacting with COM models using Java?

Thank you for helping out a newbie!
Mohnish

Of course it isn't impossible; the Jacob project is probably what can help you:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/jacob-project/

But beware that binding a Java application to anything native is not easy, is very easy to break and is very hard to debug. It is absolutely not the territory for the novice.